http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=18985 

NBR
Newsroom.co.nz agency story
11-Sep-2007

Prime Minister Helen Clark says no classified information has been 
accessed by foreign nations attempting to hack into government computer 
systems

Security Intelligence Service head, Warren Tucker, told the Dominion 
Post that government websites have been attacked, information has been 
stolen and software has been installed that could be used to take 
control of computer systems.

Neither Mr Tucker nor Ms Clark would identify which countries were 
conducting cyber espionage against New Zealand, but both pointed to 
reports of other countries recently experiencing similar attacks.

Earlier this month reports said Chinese military hackers had found their 
way into a Pentagon defense system in June, and German chancellor, 
Angela Merkel, has recently raised the issue of Chinese military 
infiltration into German government computers with Chinese Premier Wen 
Jiabao.

Officially, China has denied the attacks, citing "specific laws" against 
computer hacking.

Ms Clark told reporters today that the hackers had not succeeded in 
accessing classified information, and the attacks were not unique to New 
Zealand.

"What I can stress is that absolutely no classified information has ever 
been penetrated by these attacks," she said.

The Financial Times recently quoted sources who said the incursions were 
coming from the Chinese People's Liberation Army, in what appears to be 
ongoing attempts to perfect asymmetrical warfare capabilities.

Asymmetrical warfare involves countries which do not possess the same 
level of military power as their bigger enemies, adopting dissimilar 
tactics to wage conflict.

The PLA has been working since the mid-1990s to perfect its 
unconventional warfare capabilities.  Hacking into an enemy's computer 
networks is a tactic in which China has a particular interest, since the 
U.S. and most Western militaries rely heavily on computerised defense 
networks.

Copyright Fourth Estate Holdings Ltd 2007


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